Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Pittsburgh highlights

It's a 12 hour drive from Tennessee to Pittsburgh, and I don't have to tell you what 12 hours in the car can do to a toddler, or to me for that matter. I now have the entire soundtrack to Rapunzel memorized, and I got really good at morphing into a body pillow for my sleeping toddler while using my toes to give my son his blankie. By the time we made it to our halfway point to stay in a hotel, I practically flung myself out of the car and hugged the ground.

The trip was primarily to celebrate Pat's grandmother's 80th birthday, but we managed to fit a ton of fun stuff in while we were there. And by the way, for a couple with no family around, it was SO nice to know we had someone to watch the kids for FREE anytime we wanted to get away for some child-free dinners (I know, foreign concept).

Pat and I broke away one night and had dinner at an old church that was converted into a brewery/restaurant complete with stained glass windows. It was called The Church Brewery, but I just kept calling it "Beer Church." This place was amazing, they actually had the giant machine they brew the beer in where the pulpit used to be.

They had awesome pizza, and a very.....interesting...beer sampler. I learned the different between a "hoppy" and a "malty" beer. I couldn't tell you what that difference is now, but I can tell you that I don't enjoy "hoppy" beer. It tasted like drinking a glass of potpourri. I did have a taste of their coconut lager though, and it was delish!

On another day, we made a trip with some of the family, including Haley's cousin, Avalene, to the Children's Museum. I think the girls loved it there so much because it's a giant house where making a mess is highly encouraged.

Of course she loved the water room where she could pour water from one thing into another (her current favorite activity). They also had a place where you could build your own foam boat and float it down a "river," but she was too busy pouring water. I mean, it's not like you can do that at home or anything...

Another room in the museum had this arrangement of sand tables where kids could draw pictures in the sand (and make more messes that I don't have to clean up, yay!)

And they had a giant Light Brite! How cool would it be to make one of the walls in your house a giant Light Brite?

Near the end of our trip, we went to a farm where Haley saw some farm animals (which are apparently much more frightening in person than in a book). Haley's fine with goats in a picture, but when they're 3 feet away (and in a pen no less) they become child eating monsters. We left the petting zoo area pretty quickly.

Haley and I climbed into tiny playhouses instead.

They were much harder to climb out of than they were to climb into.

There were some other eventful times during our stay. For a couple days, Haley came down with some random fever that made her cling to us like a spider monkey (not so fun when you're in an amusement park). Another time, we went downtown to an expensive chocolate shop and I turned around to see my daughter with a whole package of (unopened) cherry liqueurs in her mouth. When I went to buy them with my credit card (because who carries cash anyway??) they had a $10 minimum for cards, so I ended up buying $12 worth of chocolate I didn't plan on buying (which I suppose I shouldn't be whining about because hey, it's chocolate). I'm starting to believe one of the store's employees shoved the package of chocolate in my daughter's mouth so we'd have to buy it. Maybe I should be thanking them.

Oh, and I did go to the same store, LOOM, where I found THIS fabric and picked up a few things...ok, a lot of things...

Check out the peacock fabric! I'm thinking it would make a really cute shirt, or maybe a skirt? Anyone want to throw any ideas my way?

Fun fact: I've never used a clothing pattern before (aside from the ones I make myself). They scare me for some reason. I'm sure patterns would make my life a heck of a lot easier.

The coffee cup fabric I had to have because of my (slight) coffee addiction, and because I love the retro feel. But I'm a little worried the print might look a little juvanile on me - thoughts?

When I saw the last print on the right, I had to have it....but I was unsure of what to do with it until I saw THIS tutorial for a 20-minute Grocery Bag Holder on Craftiness is Not Optional - perfect! Especially since my grocery bags are all balled up in piles in my cupboard.

2 comments:

LOVE that peacock fabric! Try a pattern, I did with those knot sundresses & its just like a really detailed tutorial :) you would rock it!!!! hit joanns when they have their 99cents pattern sale and grab one..

LOVE the coffee print, not juvenile at all. What are your plans for it? I have an apron/hot pad combo tutorial pinned under gifts that it would be really cute on. Or the placemats I have pinned under kitchen stuff.

That giant light bright looks like a lot of fun, when you figure out how to make one please share a tutorial. =]

I say give a pattern a try but definitely hit up the 99 cent sales and have a plan to trace the pattern so you don't have to cut it.

The produce fabric looks fun too. And the peek of the gray/yellow looks fabulous.

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments! I try to respond to each of them through email so please make sure you leave an email address or have your profile set up to include your email address if you want me to respond :)

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About Me

Hi I'm Jen, welcome to my little spot in blogland! I'm a working mother of 2 who loves to sew with any free time I can find.
I do my best to make do with what I have, so many of my projects are refashions and upcycles of clothing I already have.
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Play nice! All pictures and content are property of Jennifer McCaffrey (aka My Own Road) unless otherwise stated. You may link back to this site, but all content and photos must be properly credited. Republishing posts in their entirety is also prohibited. Tutorials are to be used to create items for personal use only.
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